Hand tool



29, 1952 J. E. PENKAUSKAS 2,533,876

HAND TOOL Filed Oct. 10, 1950 INVENTOR.

Patented Jan. 29, '1952 HAND JIOOL John E. Penkauskas, Grand .Rapids, Mich'., as-

signor to A M I Incorporated, GrandRapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application October 10, 1950, Serial No. 189,363

r 4 Claims. (01. 229-268) This invention relates to a tool adapted to apply retaining clips to a panel mounting as sembly. V

It is the present practice to provide certain typesof mechanisms such as cabinets for automatic phonographs, etc., with housings or windows wherein thin panels, particularly transparent panels of glass or plastic, are held in place on extruded metal channels by V-shaped spring clips. Prior to the development of the tool here shown and disclosed, it has been the practice to apply such clips by the use of pliers, screw drivers, or other instruments improvised for the purpose, but it has been found that such practice is slow, laborious, and. unnecessarily tiring, and it is consequently the primary object'of the present invention to provide a new and improved tool capable of rapid installation ofthese retaining clips, the tool being, so designed as to be capable of easy manipulation, yet quick,smooth, and positive in action.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hand tool for the purpose indicated, wherein the tool itself is of relatively simple and inexpensive construction, yet is so designed that it may be easily and quickly loaded with the clip r to be applied.

A further object is the provision of a tool of such construction that the clip will not readily be discharged or lost from the tool prior to its Ii application to the work, but will be adequately held in the tool as the tool is manipulated into position, and positively attached to the work upon proper actuation of the tool handles.

These objects are accomplished according to the present teaching by the provision of a small,

relatively simple, plier-like hand tool consisting of a pair of levers pivoted together to provide the handles of the tool, with the opposite end portions of the levers so designed and constructed as to act as an operating head. This head portion of the tool includes pilot portions and anchor hooks whereby the tool is operatively secured to the work as the clips are attached. In addition, it includes a shiftable driver for flexing the spring ner of application of the tool to the work. In this figure, the tool parts are shown in the position they assume in the first step of the operation; f Figure 4 is a detail sectional view similar to Figure 3, showing an intermediate position through which the tool and clip move during application of the clip to the panel assembly;

and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmental detail sectional view through a panel supporting member the edge of a panel carried thereon, with the clip and tool shown in the position which they occupy at the completion of the attaching operation. k

The tool disclosed herein is designed for the purpose of applying spring retaining clips to a panel mounting assembly such as illustrated in Figure 5 of the present drawings. In such an assembly a mounting rail l0 having glass supporting flanges II and 12 serves to support a panellB with the front face l3a on the panel resting against the flange II and the edge l3b of the panel bearing against the flange I2. The

.rail includes an inwardly extending web [I having a ridge It at its inner edge to provide an abutment i6 against which a folded portion 2| of the spring clip 20 may rest. The clip 20 includes a pair of opposite and identical arms 22, each of whichhas its extreme end 23 bent slightly outwardly sothat the lower arm engages the underside of the flange 12, while the upper arm engages the inside surface l3c of the panel 13. The. tool here disclosed is for the purpose of applying the clips 20 to hold the panel l3 in position on the channel ill. The tool is a plierlike assembly as illustrated in Figure l, and includes levers 25 and 26 pivoted to each other by 33 are preferably. of mild steel and include forwardly projecting pilot portions 31 and rearwardly disposed anchor hooks 38 so shaped that as the tool is applied to the work, the pilots 3! are inserted under the flange l2 of the mounting rail i0, while the anchor hooks 38 engage the shown in. Figure '5. site arms 2Z., of the clip are flexed outwardly landfthe' foldl l is firmly engaged with the abutabutments IS on the web I4 to hold the tool in firm engagement with the work as the clips are flexed into position. 7

As best seen in Figure 1, the legs 32 of the lower handle 25 terminate in shoulders 39 spaced somewhat above the pilot portions 3! of the side plates 33 to provide a pocket 40 in which one of the clips 20 may be manually positioned.

In the preferred form of the invention the handle 25 and its leg portions 32 are formed of hardened tool steel and magnetized so that the legs 32 form the opposite poles of a horseshoe magnet, and the soft iron side plates 33 function as the magnetic pole pieces, whereby a clip'of magnetic material will be magnetically held against displacement when once inserted into the pocket 40. By this expedient the clips may be manually placed in the pocket 40 and the tool thereafter applied to the work carrying the clip, in the manner illustrated in Figure 3. The oper- -ating' end of the lever 26 has a driver portion 4!, which extends downwardly from the pivot 21 and has a hardened insert "located on its forward surface and positioned to engage the fold portion 2| of a clip carried between the side plates 33. In the commercial embodiment of the-invention, the pivot pin 21 is formed of nonmagnetic material, so that it will not detract from the efficiency, of the magnetic meansfor securing clips-in the socket of the tool. The lever 26 is also non-magnetic.- I The sequence .of operations involved in applying-.aclip to the work with the tool here disclosed may be seen from examination of Figures 1,13, 4 and 5,. which show the successive positions of "operations The illustration of Figure 1 shows the tool before the insertion of a clip therein. ,The first step of the operation is the manualinsertion-of a clip in the pocket 40, after which-the tool is applied to the work by slipping 4210f thedriver 4| inwardly against the fold 2| of} the clip, moving it through the position ,of Figure 4, after which the fold 2| of the clip is snapped downwardly into the final position In this position the oppom ntlfi jofjthe rail. web 14, so that the tool may be" .renrovedg leaving the clip locked in' position and' exerting firm but resilient pressure against thel eidg'e of the panel I3. Y

f It has been learned that while the spring'clips of a panel mounting assembly such as disclosed infFigure her'eof may be applied by various types of improvised tools, yet their application maybe rendered easier, faster and more convenient by the use of the tool here disclosed.

For onethin'g, the tool of the present disclosure is'so designed as to apply considerable leverage to the clips at the instant of a'pplicationfs'o that fairly "stiff spring metal may be employed without rendering the installation of the clips unnecessarily dimcult.

It is also to be noted that with a tool of the design here illustrated, the tool itself is firmly locked with the mounting rail as the clip is installed, so that the possibility of accidentally dislodging the clip is to a large extent eliminated. The tool is so designed that the clips are self-retaining in thetool socket, so that any likelihood of accidental dislodgement of the clips is overcome, yet the clips may be manually placed in position in the tool without manipulation of any latches, snaps or mechanical retaining devices.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim. as. new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

-' 1. A hand tool comprising, in combination, a hand grip comprising a pair of levers pivoted together, with a bifurcated operating end on one of said levers terminating in an open pocket having side plates on each side thereof, with forwardly projecting pilot portions and rearwardly projecting anchor hooks on said side plates, together with a driver carried by the other of saidlevers and shiftable through said pocket to .engage a clip therein and force it therefrom. V,

A. hand tool comprising, in combination, a hand grip comprising a pair of levers pivoted together with an operating end on one of said levers havingv an open pocket to receivea clip and magnetic means to retain the cliptherein, with a forwardly projecting pilot portion and a rearwardly projecting anchor hooklon said lever; togetherwith a driver'carried by the other of said levers and shiftable through said pocketto engage-a clip therein and force it therefrom.-

3. Ahand tool comprising, in combination, a. handgrip with a bifurcated operating end terminating in an open pocket having side plates on each side thereof, with forwardly projecting pilot portions and rearwardly projecting. anchor hooks on said side plates, together with a shiftable driver and manually operable means to move said driver through said pocket to engage aclip therein and-force it therefrom.

4. A' hand tool comprising, in combination, a

hand grip with a bifurcated operating end terminating in an open pocket having magnetic means to retain a clip therein, with forwardly projecting pilot portions and rearwardly pro- .iectingl anchor hooks on said operating end of the tool, together with a shiftable driver and manually operable means to move said driver through said pocket to engage a clip therein and force it therefrom.

., JOHN E. PENKAUSKAS.

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" The following references are of record in the tile; of this patent 1 I UNITED STATES PATENTS 

